


Day 208

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [208]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [208]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 208

Hawke woke with a splitting headache. He reached for the fade to draw on healing energy but his mana reserves were depleted. By reflex, he reached for his lyrium potions but they weren’t there. Slowly, he fought his way back to full consciousness. Either it was very dark where he was or something was wrong with his eyes. It was cold but dry, and smelled like old dirt. 

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Merrill said. Her voice was coming from somewhere above him. She lit a torch and Hawke had to shut his eyes against the brightness. When his eyes adjusted he could make out his friend standing over him. They were at the bottom of a deep mineshaft, so deep that the light from the torch didn’t reach the top.

“What happened?” he asked. He remembered a fight with apostates in the Bone Pit.

“We got knocked down here while fighting mages in the mines,” Merrill confirmed. “Aveline and Varric won the fight but some rocks covered up the hole and we’re trapped until they can clear them away. I guess Aveline can’t just hit the rocks and make them move.”

Hawke looked around the bottom of the shaft where they were trapped. Whoever had dug out the shaft had not expanded much at the bottom. There were no tunnels to explore, no easy way to climb up. All they could do was wait for rescue. If Hawke had access to his magic, he might have been able to free them, in time his mana would replenish, but by then they might have already been rescued. He assumed Merrill was in the same predicament, else she would have gotten them out herself.

“I was waiting for you to wake up,” Merrill said. “I’m out of mana but I can use a bit of blood to replenish myself, only I’m feeling a bit woozy myself. I might pass out if I try to draw my own blood.”

Hawk was almost too stunned to respond. The pounding in his head made it hard to think, but he was pretty sure he understood what Merrill was trying to say. After everything that had happened Merrill was planning on using more blood magic. And if she couldn’t use her own blood that could only mean-

“I would never take your blood without asking,” she said. “But I can get us out of here with only a bit. You might feel a bit lightheaded but otherwise you’ll be perfectly safe. Even safer than if we stay down here. I heard some of the rocks shift overhead. If they try to dig us out, they might crush us.”

“How can you ask me this,” Hawke demanded. “Blood magic is evil Merrill. You’re as likely to become an abomination and kill us both as you are to save us.”

“No!” Merrill said. Her normally meek demeanor was done, now she stood before him, defiant and strong. Hawk felt very weak and small, but he still would not give up his blood. 

“You see the world only as a human,” Merrill said. “It is your people who outlaw blood magic. Of course you see usas evil, the only ones who use blood magic are criminals already. I have seen glimpses of Arlathan, the ancient keepers used their blood to protect their people. You fear it only because you have been told to by people who have been told to.”

“The Imperium-”

“Uses many tools to accomplish its goals.” Marrill said. “Magisters poison each other. Poison is good for nothing but killing yet you are happy to fill your pack with it every time we go out. Magisters employ spies as does everyone else.”

“Blood magic controls minds,” Hawke said. “It can rob people of their will.”

“Are any of these miners working the Bone Pit because they want to be?” Merrill asked. “Or are they here because they have no other options. A choice between something and death is no choice at all. Yet it is a choice you ask of them every day.”

Hawke had had enough. His head was pounding, his soul was out of energy and for some reason his boot was still full of dogshit. These were arguments he had heard before, usually from cackling villains about to sacrifice children in their lust for power. Blood magic unlocked a new world of possibilities, possibilities Quentin had been eager to explore.

“Your arguments would be more convincing,” Hawke said. “If you weren’t trying to make deals with every demon we meet.”

“You never try to shame Anders this way and he has already been possessed.”

“Anders had never turned on me or lost control.”

“Anders is constantly losing control of himself,” Merrill shouted. “You just ignore it because when he does it helps you on whatever mission you’re on that day. You make up distinctions that don’t exist. I keep to myself unless I’m with you, all I want is to help my people, Anders is the one dragging the rest of us into a war with the templars, regardless of who gets caught in the middle.”

Hawke was about to respond when Aveline’s voice bashed its way down the shaft. Hawke could make out no words, but it was clear she was in distress. Varric let out a surprised yelp and then Aveline bellowed a war-cry.

“There must have been more mages,” Merrill said. “They need our help.”

Hawke was going to argue further but Aveline let out the low guttural roar she only made when she was badly hurt. Hawke pulled out his utility knife, or as Varric called it ‘The Murder Knife,’ and cut a shallow gash across his arm.

“Blight it all,” he muttered. He turned to Merrill, showing her the wound. “Do it!”

He felt his life force leaving him as Merril drew his blood out to fuel her spells. They traveled through the stone itself and came out in the tunnel. Hawke found himself between Aveline and a mag with two sellsword bodyguards. He was still weak from the fall and the blood loss but before they could attack Merrill tossed him his bag of potions. He quickly backpedaled, double fisting an elfroot and lyrium potion as he tried to keep out of range of the sellswords. He felt the magic working within him, bringing him back to full power. HE flashed a smile at the sellswords.

They never stood a chance.


End file.
